Driving forces for socioeconomic change

Shahab Sabahi
Energy and Environment for Development – Policy Analysis Research Group

Since Herbert Spencer who submitted that society should evolve from barbarian forms to civilized forms, the debate on the causes of progress or changes in society has been heated up. From Spencer’s view as society evolves, the most capable individuals rise to the top and the least capable die out. He termed this idea on social order "survival of the fittest”.  Karl Marx took a holistic approach and synthesized sociology and economics to analyze the causes of changes in society. Marx theorized that the driving force behind social order was class conflict. Class conflict theory states that the capitalists (those who possessed resources fit to create wealth) were constantly in conflict with the proletariat (workers who do not own the means of production).

In the search for the cause of changes in society, one of the widely discussed concept was introduced by Max Weber. In his treatise "Protestant Ethics and the Spirit of Capitalism" Weber combines psychological & sociological variables with economic development. Because of its determination of the value systems of societies, he put primary importance on religion. According to Weber, the Protestant religion was a precondition for capitalistic development for two reasons: Protestant ethics led to an ascetic life style which, instead of advocating affluence, reinvested the proceeds. As well, it is the basis of rationalism and goal achievement behaviour. While a value system which motivates economic development can hardly be limited to Protestantism Weber's stress on values and the resulting motivation influenced later thought.

In more recent times, Parsons and Smelser explained economic development as a result of tension and unrest in societies. If a traditional undifferentiated society experiences economic growth and economic differentiation as a result of external inputs, this leads to unrest. Frustration of groups of the population not & participating and gaining generates further differentiation and growth, and these small steps happen within relatively short times. McClelland sees the cause of underdevelopment in the absence of achievement motivation. The desire to do well to attain an inner feeling of personal accomplishment is the pre-requisite for innovative activity. Following McClelland's concept that a level of development is correlated with achievement motivation, Hagen tried to explain why this achievement motivation varies between societies and their classes and strata. He argues that in traditional societies the status of individuals is fixed. Children learn to act according to established norms, and deviations (initiative) are punished. If by external influences a new group gains power, the status of the old elite is challenged and weakened.

Perhaps one can say that the insecurity and frustration leads to changed behaviour in society which has consequences on the family structure the basic block of society. The young generations in families tend to become dissatisfied with society’s institutions and their contradictories with readily. The young generations develop new value system or accept existing alternative value systems. In time, they become innovative personalities, if these persons become dominant groups in the society, this causes economic development. Similar phenomena may happen as far as the changing situation of marginal groups or minorities is concerned.